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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23779855">First Meetings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightRedFox/pseuds/LightRedFox'>LightRedFox</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Splatoon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Arguments, Hurt/Comfort, it’s rated T for swearing, no blatant ships but implied forge/avi I guess, scuba is an asshole but it’s ok bc it’s for the plot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:00:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,476</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23779855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightRedFox/pseuds/LightRedFox</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Army suggests that the co captains discuss a new arrangement. Well, it’s more of Forge trying to get the others to cooperate. It doesn’t go too well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>CoroikaCollection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’m just saying, it’s impractical for both of you to use Nozzlenoses, and that it won’t hurt you to try a different weapon.”</p><p>“Oh, so having two blasters isn’t?” There’s a loud noise from hands slamming down on the table, and the glasses of water shake along with it, displacing some of the liquid onto the papers spread out in front of four inkling of different ink colors.</p><p>“There’s a big difference in the capabilities of a Luna and a Rapid Bla-”</p><p>“Oh yeah? Like what?” Scuba scowls down at the cyan inkling sitting across from him, who’s leering angrily at the inkling towering over her.</p><p>“How do we know if our weapons won’t work well together if we haven’t even tried to use them as a team?”</p><p>“Scuba, sit down.” Forge sighs, gathering the papers nearest to her to check for any water droplets.</p><p>“The table will flip with all that weight on it.” Aviators adds quickly. Scuba glares at him before dropping back down into his seat with a loud thump. Moon goes back to playing whatever game she has on her phone.</p><p>“...Anyway, as I was saying,” Forge clears her throat to try and break the growing tension. “due to all of us using similar weapons, variety is needed to gain the advantage in the battlefield. I understand that it’s irritating to use an unfamiliar weapon, but this is all temporary for now.” She chances a glance at the pink inkling, who’s staring very hard at the corner of the ceiling.</p><p>“Scuba, your body is well built and should be able to handle a Flingza Roller easily. Just try a few matches with it, and if it doesn’t work out you can drop it for something else.”</p><p>All she receives is a grunt in reply. She takes it as a yes, and marks some stuff off her journal, scribbling in some notes before flipping to the next page.</p><p>‘He must be pretty upset to not even tease me for saying his body is well built…’</p><p>She’s still not sure why Army thought it was a good idea for the co captains of the S4 to join forces. The actual leaders teaming up made sense; they were strong by themselves, and together they were a force to be reckoned with. That was why they received that invite to the Square cup, and why Army was so busy trying to get the rest of the S4 to cooperate. But Forge knew that the four inklings in the room would have nowhere near as much strength as the S4 when combined. Sure, individually they were decent at turf, but they weren’t as well known or feared as their respective leaders. They hadn’t even thought about teaming up with each other prior to this meeting, so they didn’t have teamwork or cooperation. Separated or combined, they were just mediocre. A shoddy second rate team.</p><p>Still, she trusted her leader enough to give his idea a try, which is why she was still trying to keep Scuba or Moon from walking out the door. At least Avi was being a good sport, though she couldn’t tell if it was because he actually wanted to give this idea a try or he pitied her.</p><p>“I’ll be trying out the Splatterscope myself.” She says aloud, trying to get them to listen. “I have some prior experience, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.”</p><p>“Good for you.” Moon mutters under her breath beside Forge, not looking up from her game. Forge pretends not to hear it.</p><p>“There are many keys to victory, and one of them is having a balanced team. Having different weapons will help in getting us out of tight situations, and expands what we’re capable of. The best weapons to have on a team, according to-”</p><p>“According to your stupid book?” Scuba snaps, causing the orange inkling to flinch, tightening her grip on said journal. All Army had said was that Pink team was laid back and enjoyed slacking off, and she was prepared to deal with that. But the angry inkling in front of her was beyond any of her predictions.</p><p>“Dude, knock it off.” Avi growls. “The fuck’s your problem?”</p><p>“The fuck’s my problem? The fuck’s your problem?!” Scuba grabs Avi by the collar of his jacket and pulls him up to glare at him face to face. “I could be partying my ass off right now, but instead I’m suddenly part of a team full of wallflowers, and being bossed around!”</p><p>Moon, still completely invested with her game but clearly listening in, sinks deeper into her seat as the pink inkling’s voice gets louder, angrier.</p><p>“You aren’t even giving her a chance!” The purple inkling’s cool facade fades as his voice gets louder too. “If this doesn’t work out, fine! At least we tried! But you, you just-arghhh, it’s infuriating!” He pries the taller boy’s hands off of his jacket, and pushes Scuba away. The pink inkling’s face darkens, his expression livid.</p><p>“Give me ONE good reason to listen to a word she’s saying.”</p><p>Forge freezes up as both boys look at her. She can sense Moon side-eyeing her, and feels the pressure starting to build up.</p><p>“W-Well, as Aviators is saying, we should at least give it a try...” She manages to let out with a shaky voice. “It’ll be a learning experience for all of us. And with me leading-”</p><p>Scuba lets out a dry laugh. “And why exactly would you be our leader? If anything you’d be the weakest member, just like Army.”</p><p>“I-I…”</p><p>He snatches the book from her hands before she can form a single word to reply.</p><p>“You know what your problem is? You treat this thing like it’s the fucking gospel. Is that stuck up nerd your god or something?” He rolls his eyes. “Cod, it’s like you don’t have a mind of your own. Do you wanna spend your entire life following that guy’s orders?”</p><p>Forge shuts her mouth tightly, figure trembling as she looks at everything except the book in his hands. But Scuba isn’t done yet, and he turns to the purple inkling.</p><p>“And you’re just Skull’s number two, it’s pathetic. All you do is follow him around like a lapdog!”</p><p>“Like you’re one to talk. As far as everyone’s concerned, you’re just an inferior Aloha!”</p><p>That stuns everyone, even the speaker, into silence. Avi slaps a hand over his mouth as he processes the words that came out of it. Moon stops playing on her phone and looks up at them with wide eyes.</p><p>“I..I’m going to go.” Forge grabs a handful of the papers in front of her and runs out the door before anyone else has time to react.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Forge runs up to her room, ignoring her brother’s greetings and slamming the door shut. No sooner than when she locks the bedroom door do the tears start falling, and she lets out a few choked up sobs as she lets her body fall into the bed, the pillows muffling her cries. She grips the cotton tightly, and sobs for a good long while until the tears don’t come out anymore.</p><p>They hadn’t even gotten past the planning stage, yet everything was a horrible mess. Forge could predict everything that could happen in the battlefield, but when it came to interactions outside of it, it was abundantly clear that she was helpless. She was just another social outcast, unaware of anything happening outside the news and her small circle of friends.</p><p>Scuba’s words wounded Forge deeply as she came to the conclusion that he was right. Everything she based her actions upon came from the pure research and data gathering of her and her teammates, all conveniently collected into a single book. She’d relied on it too much in situations where it failed to give a solution, and now things had taken a turn for the worse because of her ignorance.</p><p>She had run out of the room instead of facing the consequences of her mistake. She knew she had messed up, but instead of trying to talk things over, she cried her eyes out. It was pathetic. She really was the weakest.</p><p>A sudden rapping sound snaps her out of her gloomy thoughts, and she wipes away the remaining tears on her cheeks before forcing herself to sit up on her bed. Another set of rapping comes from her left, and she nearly screams at the sight of Aviators on her balcony, peering into her room through the glass sliding door.</p><p>“Hey, Forge-Forge do you see me? Can you open the door? It’s freezing out here.”</p><p>Behind the purple squid’s shivering figure, she can see the grey clouds covering the sky and blocking the sunlight. How fittingly melancholic, she thinks. He knocks on the glass again, so she nods her head in acknowledgement and unlocks the door, though she gives him a bewildered look once he steps into her room.</p><p>“How in the world did you get there?”</p><p>“I climbed the pine tree outside and then scaled the walls. You should probably get some motion sensors installed, burglars can do that twice as fast.” He dusts some pine needles off his jacket before sitting himself down on the bed.</p><p>“Anyway, you doing alright? I got worried and wanted to check up on you, but the door was locked so I took a different route.”</p><p>“I’m fine, it’s just-I’m sorry I left so abruptly.” She sniffles, remembering her sudden exit. “I-I just didn’t know what to do, and I-” </p><p>“Hey, it’s cool if you don’t wanna talk about it right now; take your time. I just want to make sure you’re all right.”</p><p>He pats the space next to him and grabs a nearby pillow for her to hug as she takes a seat. They stay like that for a few minutes, basking in a silence that isn’t exactly comfortable, but not awkward either.</p><p>“I think I’m fine.” She sighs after a while. “I just...thought that this meeting would go in a much different direction. I didn’t expect those reactions from Scuba and Moon, and I suppose I got overwhelmed.”</p><p>“Not what you expected, huh?” He cocks his head to the side. “They weren’t acting mature, but they had some pretty valid concerns you know.”</p><p>She doesn’t reply, and he takes that as an invitation to continue.</p><p>“This whole teaming up thing is really sudden, even if our leaders told us to do so. We just don’t know each other well enough, ya know? It’s easy to compare working with strangers and working with friends.”</p><p>“I’m not sure I understand.”</p><p>“Think about it this way, if we all agree to form a team, even if it turns out to be a great idea, we can’t just permanently ditch our other teammates. I can’t do that to Pais and Stitch, and I doubt you’d do that to your sailor buddies.”</p><p>“Yeah, I could never leave White and Blue by themselves.” She mumbles out. The thought of leaving them was out of the question. She had never even thought about the co captain team’s permanent effects, only seeing it as something to do while the S4 has their separate training regime for the tournament. But then...that would explain why Army insisted on the idea of forming the team. Could it be that he was planning on making the S4 team up a permanent thing?</p><p>“I’m gonna be frank, I wasn’t sure what to think when Skull told me you wanted the co caps to form a team, so I wanted to hear you out. But if you had suggested anything that involved me leaving Purple team behind, I would’ve immediately said no.”</p><p>“Avi…”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“Would Skull ever leave your team for a stronger one?”</p><p>“Shell no! I’ve known him since we were kids, he’d never disband for such a selfish reason. Why do you ask?”</p><p>“Well, it was Army who suggested I make a team with the other co captains.” She confessed. “But the more I think about it, the more I realize maybe he wants to leave Orange team and form a new team with the S4-”</p><p>The sudden burst of laughter from her companion makes her lose her train of thought.</p><p>“Seriously? Forge, I don’t know if you know this, but they hate each other's guts. They’re probably fighting over something petty right now! If Army really is thinking about doing that, then it’s doomed to fail.”</p><p>His face becomes serious again as he looks at Forge, making eye contact through his shades. “I can’t speak for the others, but I can say for certain that Skull and I have no plans to leave Purple team behind. A team isn’t all strength, it’s got heart too.”</p><p>“Cod, you’re right. How could I be so dense?” Forge buries her head into her hands. “I didn’t think of it as a permanent team up, and I just automatically assumed you’d all agree without a problem-I never considered your feelings. I only ever thought about the most logical outcome.”</p><p>“Yeah, we can predict movements all we like, but we can’t ever predict emotions. I’m sure you didn’t expect to be here right now with me; no data can predict that kind of stuff.” The waterworks were threatening to come out again, and she sniffles to try and keep them at bay. Aviators simply sighs at her futile attempts to stop crying.</p><p>“Come here.” Avi wraps his arms around Forge’s waist and pulls her into a hug, his bigger frame easily enveloping her with warmth. She buries her tear stained face into his shoulder, squeezing tightly as a comfortable silence settles between choked back sobs and soothing words.</p><p>Click!</p><p>Avi inadvertently tightens his grip around Forge and looks up in surprise to see Moon standing in front of the bedroom’s newly opened door, phone in one hand and a small key in the other.</p><p>“Hey now-”</p><p>“Relax, I’m not gonna do anything with it. Yet.” She walks towards them and hugs Forge from her backside before the girl can react.</p><p>“I’m sorry about acting like a bitch earlier. I really was going to try and hear you out, that pink jerk just put me in a bad mood.”</p><p>“I’m surprised you came back.” Avi comments.</p><p>“I never left.” She releases her grip to sit down on the bed and look at Forge, wiping away a few tears that are freely falling from her eyes now. “Avi’s right, we don’t know if it’ll work out until we try.”</p><p>“Moon…”</p><p>BAM!</p><p>The door to Forge’s room slams open, causing the three still in an embrace to jump slightly. Scuba runs in sweating heavily, cheeks flushed blue.</p><p>“Forge I’m so sorry for being an ass-”</p><p>He cuts himself short and does a double take at the other two squids on either side of the orange inkling. He coughs awkwardly as Moon glares at him.</p><p>“I literally just unlocked the door! You didn’t have to make your entrance so fucking dramatic-”</p><p>“Listen, I had to run back like 5 kilometers as fast as I could, blame the adrenaline.”</p><p>He takes in a few breaths to collects his thoughts before speaking again.</p><p>“I was like halfway to Loha’s party-I decided to walk to blow off steam-before I remembered I had this, and kinda realized that I went too far.” Scuba holds up the journal Forge held in such high regard moments before all this happened.</p><p>“I’m not really fond of authority and all that, so I kinda snap when people tell me what to do. It’s...not a new thing.” He rubs the back of his head. “So uhh, sorry for being a jerk I guess. To all of you.”</p><p>“Hey it’s all good man. I’m sorry too, you seem way cooler than Aloha.”</p><p>Moon just huffs in response, but Forge smiles as she takes the book from his hands, gripping it tightly as different emotions run through her head.</p><p>“Thank you.” She says softly. Avi scoots closer to Forge so that Scuba can squeeze himself on the bed, all four of them now awkwardly cramped up on it.</p><p>“Well, what do you know, we’re all here.” Avi lets out a small chuckle. “Guess now that we’ve had a heart to heart, we can talk about what we were supposed to talk about.”</p><p>“If that’s the case, I’d like to revise my previous proposal.” Despite limited movement, the other three manage to scoot closer together to listen intently, the bed creaking slightly as a warning.</p><p>“A temporary team, only to be in effect when all four of us aren’t busy with our original teams. We’ll train together using whatever weapons we want. You can bow out at any time, and I won’t force you to stay.”</p><p>“So it’s all of us or nothing, huh?” Moon raised an eyebrow. </p><p>“You guys are right. A team should be four people working together, not one person commanding the rest. I won’t have it any other way.”</p><p>“Then I’m in.” Moon smirks. “It’ll be nice to have a break from Mask sometimes.”</p><p>“Of course I’m in. What would you do without this well built body of mine?” Scuba snickers and Forge can’t help but roll her eyes. Of course he didn’t forget about that.</p><p>“Well, that’s half of us in agreement.” Avi grins. “You’re sure you wanna do this? I’ll only do it if it’s what you want, Forge. Not what Army wants, not what that book tells you to do; only what you want.”</p><p>Forge wipes away the last of her tears and smiles brightly.</p><p>xxx</p><p>“They’re up here.” Army leads Stealth up a staircase to a closed wooden door, some unintelligible sounds coming from the small spaces between the door hinges.</p><p>“I trust you to have a better attitude than Rider at these meetings, am I clear?” The orange inkling gives a sharp glance at the octo, who gulps nervously and nods his head in understanding. A loud crashing sound from downstairs causes both of them to look down for the source, Army letting out an irritated sigh.</p><p>“I need to go now. Behave yourself. SKULL STOP TRYING TO GET INTO THE PANTRY!” He yells as he runs down the stairs. Stealth takes a few deep breaths before cracking the door open a smidge. He had met the other co captains a few times before, but he wasn’t officially considered part of the team until Rider had taken Army’s place in the Ranked cup.</p><p>‘I wonder what they’re discussing-‘</p><p>“I cannot believe you! How could you betray me like this?!” Moonl’s anguished voice came out.</p><p>“I betrayed you?! No, we were clearly never allies!” Scuba’s voice spoke loudly, rattling the octoling further.</p><p>“S-Sounds like a argument. M-Maybe I should help stop the fighting?” Stealth contemplates to himself amidst the sounds of shuffling chairs.</p><p>“Can you two please calm down?”</p><p>“This is your fault too, you know! Why’d you let him take control?”</p><p>“I just assumed he’d be more experienced-“</p><p>“Maybe if I go in now, they’ll forget about what they’re arguing about.” </p><p>Mind made up, Stealth takes a deep breath and opens the door wide.</p><p>“H-Hey guys.”</p><p>Four heads turn to look at him at the same time. The first thing he notices is Moon holding a pizza box in her hands, and the second thing he notices is a large stack of identical boxes on the conference table.</p><p>“Yo.” Aviators gives a lazy wave, taking another bite from the pizza slice he’s holding.</p><p>“Hey Stealth, I’m sorry you have to see us like this.” Forge sighs.</p><p>“Stealth, can you believe Scuba? He orders pizzas for us, but they all have pineapples on them! Who the fuck likes pineapple on their pizza?!”</p><p>“The real question is who orders more than five pizzas and gets the same flavor.” Avi mutters under his breath before taking another bite.</p><p>“You can just pick them off!”</p><p>“It’s not the same, asshole!”</p><p>“What to do, fearless leader?” Avi smirks at the orange inkling, who just rubs her forehead in annoyance.</p><p>“Guys, can’t we just order another pizza???” Forge sighs. “It’s not like we’re gonna be able to finish all of this anyway, getting another one isn’t gonna do much more damage.”</p><p>“But that’s exactly what this jerk wants!” Moon points an accusing finger at a smug Scuba. “He’s gonna inhale this entire stack himself!”</p><p>“I don’t know why you’re getting so heated, it’s not like it’s being charged to your credit card.” Forge grumbles as she hands her phone to Moon, who grabs it with a huff, sending a glare to a smirking Scuba.</p><p>“Do you guys always argue like this?” Stealth whispers to Avi.</p><p>“Pfft, yeah this is normal, but you should’ve been there when we had our first meeting; THAT was wild.”</p>
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